Bridgetown.
Over three thousand government workers will be laid off in the new year this was into the New Year announced in Parliament yesterday by Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler.
The minister said about 3,000 will go on the breadline – 2,000 by January 15, and the remainder by March 1. An additional 500 will go home by attrition.
He also said that he and other Cabinet ministers, MPs and other top-level civil servants will take a 10 per cent pay cut and overseas travel budgets have also been cut in half. The minister did not say, however, when those measures will take effect.
Explaining why Government is going this route, he said: “Over the period of the economic downturn, our efforts at fiscal consolidation have been heavily tilted towards cuts in outlays for goods and services and selected increases in taxation. Little headway has been made in cutting subsidies and transfers given the deep structural make up of these. Our first major effort at addressing either this or expenditures on wages and salaries is contained in the August measures.
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